


A Balancing Act

by surena_13



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-11
Updated: 2012-02-11
Packaged: 2017-10-30 22:39:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/336968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surena_13/pseuds/surena_13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Galactica's gym.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Balancing Act

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Not mine.  
> A/N: This turned out completely different from what I had planned. But I hope it's still passable.

The first thing he notices when he enters the gym is the smell. Today is obviously not a good day. It doesn’t just smell like the inside of a shoe, it’s smells like a week’s old sweat, damp dirty towels and old socks. Bill grimaces, wrinkling his nose as he remembers exactly why he doesn’t visit the gym that often. He can do sit-ups and push-ups in his quarters without the smell and with the privacy. He prefers it that way.

 

Today however is an exception. He hasn’t come to work out though he did tell Saul that was why he was going. He even put on his more worn tanks and brought a towel for the shower. He’ll go a few rounds with the punching bag, but he hasn’t come for that. No, the reason he has come to the gym today is working out in the far corner, lifting some light weights.

 

Suddenly he is jealous of all the men and women who have been privy to this sight before, when he didn’t have the chance to be there. Laura Roslin looks absolutely breathtaking in a pair of sweatpants, tanktops that unmistakably are military issue. Her hair is pulled back in a loose ponytail with strands escaping from it, curling around her face, sticking to her slightly damp skin.

 

Her skin is glistening, covered with a thin sheen of sweat and there’s a slight flush on her face and her chest. There is an intense look of concentration on her face as she pulls up the weight, her bicep flexing before slowly lowering it. She repeats this a few more times and then switches to the other arm, her muscles straining under the weight.

 

“You’re staring, Old Man,” Kara’s voice says in his ear. With a frown he turns around and is faced with a grinning Starbuck, arms crossed in front her chest.

 

“What are saying, Starbuck?”

 

“Nothing. Just, if you don’t want people to know that you’ve got a thing for the president, you may not want to look at her like some lovesick puppy.” He looks over his shoulder at Laura who still hasn’t noticed that he is there too caught up in her exercises. “Not like that. You need to get laid, sir.”

 

Bill opens his mouth to retort, but Kara just laughs at him, walking past him towards Laura. He looks at the women, the smile that unexpectedly breaks out across Laura’s face. The pair exchanges a few words before Kara takes up one of the weights and starts doing the same exercise as Laura. Starbuck’s eyes find his across the room and she smirks at him.

 

He grimaces and moves over to the punching bag, dropping his towel before he reaches for the roll of tape and starts wrapping it around his hands. If he steps just a little to the side he can still do his workout and look at Laura and Kara, but he doesn’t want to make this any more difficult than it already is. He moves until his back is towards the odd couple and with a satisfied sigh he lands his first punch.

 

Bill’s knuckles crack with the sheer force he puts behind it, but he doesn’t wince. He just keeps on hitting the bag with his fists as he tries not to think about what he lost and that what he lost is working herself into a sweat right behind him. He tries not to think about the nights they shared on New Caprica whenever he took shore leave.

 

But no matter how hard he tries or how hard he hits the punching bag, he cannot stop the memories of Laura in her red dress smiling and giggling as they smoked weed. The warmth in her eyes as she taught the children and didn’t know that he was watching. The feeling of her lips on his, her warm, soft body against his in the cold night air of New Caprica. His whispered words of love against her stomach, so she wouldn’t hear them.

 

It all seemed like a dream when they had reunited after the Exodus. They had changed, become colder, more distant. Whatever they had had on New Caprica had cooled now that they both had their responsibilities again. And after his fight, he thought it was definitively over, the cold look in Laura’s eyes after his speech said enough. But recently they settled back in same rhythm of flirtations and suggestive glances and it was driving him insane.

 

Sweat is dripping down his body and his arms begin to ache, but he doesn’t want to stop not even when he is sure he has bruised a few of his fingers. He is so caught up in his match with the punching bag that he doesn’t notice the soft female sounds coming up behind him, or the catcalls from some of the officers until he hears Kara call out: “Is that the best you’ve got, madam prez?”

 

He whips around only to wonder if this is just some ridiculous dream he is having. Because there is no possible way that in reality Laura Roslin and Kara Thrace are sparring in the middle of the gym. Kara in her shorts and sports bra and Laura has her pants rolled up to just above the knee and the edges of her tanks are dark with her sweat. Both of their hands are taped, but they aren’t wearing gloves. A few officers are spurring them on, howling words that Bill doesn’t hear. He just has his eyes focused on Laura.

 

She doesn’t even seem to be fighting. It’s like she’s dancing, her bare feet barely staying still as she avoids Starbuck’s punches and throws a few herself, managing to hit the young woman on the jaw. Kara lunges at her, but Laura easily deflects it, going for Kara’s ribs. But the captain is too quick for her and easily avoids her fists.

 

He gasps when Kara’s fist lands squarely in Laura’s stomach and she has to step back, struggling for breath. She looks wild with her hair mussed and a deadly look in her eyes. Kara just grins widely as she jumps up and down. Kara’s eyes search for his and she waggles her eyebrows. Bill just shoots a glare in her direction.

 

It’s in that split second where both he and Kara are distracted that Laura makes a move that somehow ends with Kara flat on her back on the floor with Laura straddling her chest, her knees on Kara’s elbows. Bill smiles at the triumphant look on her face and at the annoyed look on Starbuck’s face as she tries to break free, but fails. The men surrounding them laugh and shout a variety of things at Kara.

 

“Frak me. Where did you learn to do that?” Kara asks, breathless. Laura moves her knees off Starbuck’s arms and gets up, extending a hand to the blonde to help her up.

 

“Never fight with an avid fight fan, Starbuck. I know every move there is,” Laura responds coolly, releasing the elastic band to let her hair fall freely around her shoulders.

 

“You got lucky. If I hadn’t been distracted,” Kara says wiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. The men seem less interested in their conversation and return to whatever it was they were doing. But Bill approaches the ring, leaning on the ropes.

 

“I know. You were distracted because you didn’t see a woman twice your age as a threat. Look where that got you,” Laura says with a smug tone to her voice as she casually runs her hand through her hair, working out some of the knots she managed to get  in it.

 

“I’ll live,” Kara replies, carefully touching her jaw that is already starting to turn red. Bill supposes he should be glad that Kara didn’t hit the president in the face. That would have been hard to explain. “And it’s a nice reminder to never underestimate my enemy.”

 

“That’s true,” Laura retorts casually, her eyes finding Bill. She must have know he was watching them, because she doesn’t seem the slightest bit surprised to see him there.

 

“Maybe you need more of a challenge. Maybe you and the Old Man should have a go at it.”

 

“Starbuck,” Bill growls, narrowing his eyes at her, but Kara seems completely unfazed. She just has that gods annoying grin on her face.

 

“What the matter, admiral? Afraid that I’m going to win?” Laura teases as she approaches him. Bill wishes it were that easy.

 

“Madam president, this is not a good idea,” he says diplomatically. The small smile that had been playing around Laura’s lips disappears. She is pulling her guard up, protecting herself from whatever it is that will come.

 

“Because you’ll get too close to me?” Her words are softly spoken, but her tone is sharp. There are still some buried feelings there about his little speech that she has never dared to show.

 

“Because I don’t think it’s a good idea if rumors about us going at each other in the ring start circulating around the fleet. What if the press were to get wind of it?” Laura’s eyes flash and she crouches in front of him, resting her arm on a rope, her face dangerously close to his.

 

“That’s a weak excuse and you know it,” she hisses before pushing herself up and she moves towards the ropes on the other side, ready to slip out between them. If she had looked at him one more time before leaving, he would have gotten into that ring and he would have done everything that she said, but she doesn’t. She gracefully moves between the ropes and steps down from the platform.

 

Bill lets his head rest on the ropes, feeling like a frakking idiot. Everybody else in the gym seems intent on ignoring what just perspired between him and the president and Kara just looks at him as if he made the biggest mistake of his life. Maybe he had. He watches Laura retreat towards the showers, towel slung over her shoulder.

 

He should go after her, talk this out with her, but he can’t seem to find the motivation, the courage. He can feel Starbuck’s eyes on him, so he raises his eyes to meet hers. She just raises an eyebrow and looks in the direction of the showers. He rubs his forehead before he pushes himself away from the ropes and follows Laura.

 

He’s grateful when he finds her there alone, so he closes the hatch behind him, locking it, not caring if anyone might need to use the head while they’re in there. Laura looks up when she hears the door close and returns to peeling the red tape off her left hand, the sound of it ripping apart the only thing that can be heard.

 

“I’m sorry,” Bill says. Laura just shakes her head and rips off the last piece of tape, flexing her fingers, before she attempts to get rid of the tape on her right hand and finds herself unable to do so with her left hand. There’s a frustrated sigh and Laura looks up at him.

 

“Don’t be. Why wouldn’t you get in the ring with me?” She grabs her towel and drags it over skin, wiping away the sweat. It’s an innocent enough gesture, but he almost gets the feeling she’s doing it on purpose when she throws her head back and lets the rough fabric wander over her exposed throat and collarbone.

 

“I don’t want to hurt you anymore than I already have.”

 

“Gods, Bill, don’t be such a martyr,” Laura snaps, throwing her towel on a bench. “We had something on New Caprica. And it was great while it lasted, but it ended when we started running again. It happened and now it’s over. It’s that simple. But you need to stop playing hot and cold with me.”

 

“What?”

 

“You announce to your crew that it was a mistake to let people get close and then you push me away, both as a friend and a colleague. That’s fine, but then you shouldn’t keep bringing up New Caprica and what might have happened if the Cylons hadn’t come back. You need to make a choice. Either we’re just the president and the admiral or we’re something more, because I can’t keep doing this balancing act.”

 

Laura stands in front of him, her hands on her hips, chin raised defiantly, but no matter how hard she tries to guard the look in her eyes, he can still see the pain in them. She carries the weight of the entire fleet on her shoulders, just like he does. She is the only one who can understand what he goes through and he pushed her away. He loves her, more than she’ll ever know and he ended it out of some misplaced sense of guilt and responsibility.

 

Laura frowns at his indecisiveness, shaking her head a little, the unruly mess of red curls moving with it and he can see her retreat behind the mask she keeps on to protect herself. He is losing her, again. Hesitating he takes a few steps closer to her, reaching out to let his fingers caress her cheek. Laura doesn’t move, doesn’t react to  his touch. She simply looks at him.

 

His thumb brushes over her cheekbone and then moves over her cheek to her faintly parted lips, tracing their shape, feeling her warm breath against his thumb. Bill tilts her head up, a flicker of something, fear, passion, flashes through her eyes, before he leans down and softly kisses her. It’s nothing like before on New Caprica, just a mere touching of lips. So careful, so gentle, but it’s enough to convey what he wants. He wants her. But Laura pulls back, her mask slipping away.

 

“I need you to be sure. Are you?” she asks, voice unwavering, resting a hand on his chest where is heart is beating, pumping blood through his veins. He feels it’s beating only for her and it has been for a while now. Maybe it’s always been for her.

 

“I am,” he replies. He’s never been sure of anything. He needs her in his life. He wouldn’t know what to do without her. Laura smiles weakly at him, a look of relief washing over her face as she cups his cheek, the tape on her left hand rough against his cheek, before she pulls his head down for a kiss, a real proper kiss that makes him wrap his arms around her waist to pull her against his body.

 

She feels so good in his arms, so right. Her smell, that faint trace of the bland soap she used that morning mixed with her sweat, reminds him of the nights on New Caprica when he slept with her in his arms after making love to her. Bill can’t believe he ever gave this up, that he gave her up. She makes him feel whole.

 

Her teeth nip at his bottom lip, followed by her tongue, slipping between his lips. Bill groans at her intensity. Laura wants him just as much as he wants her. Sliding his hands down her back, he lets them rest just above the swell of her ass. She makes those soft little sounds in the back of her throat, she always made when she was aroused. Laura wraps a leg around his hips, pressing their hips together.

 

With a great reluctance he pulls away from her, stopping it before it could get too far. He didn’t want their first time since New Caprica to be in the head of the gym. Laura looks even more disheveled than before, but just as beautiful.

 

“Something wrong?” she asks, her leg slipping down his hips as she steps away from him.

 

“No, I was just thinking that maybe we should get out of here.” The worried look that had been on Laura’s face disappears and she almost sighs with relief.

 

“The smell?” Laura says with a smile, remembering his warning about the gym when she first admitted that she was going to use that part of Galactica’s facilities. She throws her towel in her bag, before she picks it up and sling it over her shoulder. “Ready to go?”

 

“Yeah.”


End file.
